JustReef Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 Welcome to my new tank thread. Initial Planned Specs: Tank: 40 Breeder Stand: 48" Aqueon Home Impressions in Mocha Lighting: 36" Current USA Outer Orbit Pro (150W MH x2 + 4x39W T5HO Actinics) Return Pump: Quiet One 2200 Closed Loop: Quiet One 6000 on 1" SCWD Skimmer: Tunze Doc 9005 Sump: 15 gallon AGA (24x12x12) divided into 3 sections for skimmer, fuge, and return Current Specs Initial Planned Specs: Tank: 40 Breeder Stand: 48" Aqueon Home Impressions in Mocha Lighting: 36" Current USA Nova Extreme Pro (39w T5 x 6) Return Pump: Mag 5 Powerheads: 1 Koralia 3 Skimmer: Tunze Doc 9010 Sump: 20L gallon AGA (30x12x12) divided into 3 sections for skimmer, fuge, and return Stand The new stand looks great and goes with the rest of the furniture in the living room, but the drawers create a problem. The doors only measures 16" top to bottom, limiting what I can put inside. Inside there's about 18" of clearance underneath the drawers. This is going to limit my skimmer options. I think the Tunze 9005 will fit, but I'm not sure if I'll have enough clearance to remove the cup. I need to find out about this. Holes to drill Forgive the crappy drawing. It's my first time using Sketchup. I was thinking of doing 1" bulkheads all around. I think the QuietOne pumps have 1" inputs and outputs, so I thought that would make things easier. I want to get some feed back on the placement and size of the holes before I start to drill. How much space should I leave between holes and the tank edges? Any comments on the light or the flow? Is it enough? I'm also debating on substrate. I'm thinking of doing less than an inch of black sand, but I'm worried about what the flow will do to it. Link to comment
JustReef Posted September 22, 2008 Author Share Posted September 22, 2008 So my drill bit is on its way. I plan on drilling the tank this weekend. What skimmer should I get? I've got 2 in mind. The Tunze 9005 with sump kit or the AquaC EV-120. Anybody know anything about either of these? I find the injection system on the AquaC pretty interesting. Link to comment
reefgoby30 Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 aquac makes alot of noise but the skimmate is pritty dang good and if the tank isnt in your room or you dont care I would just go with that Link to comment
SLOreefer Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 you dont want the closed loop intake in the overflow section, you will have a large microbubble problem and will regret it....I dont have experience with those particular skimmers but have used other aqua-c skimmers in the past with success.... Do a little research on the scwd....I have heard nothing but bad things about them, even the 1" version You look like you are off to a great start! with some pretty nice equipment. any reason for using the 150w over the 250w lights? Link to comment
JustReef Posted September 23, 2008 Author Share Posted September 23, 2008 aquac makes alot of noise but the skimmate is pritty dang good and if the tank isnt in your room or you dont care I would just go with that This tank will be in my family room. If it's too noisy for watching TV I guess I could put it on a timer. The tunze online manual suggested that it too is also loud and suggests putting it on a timer. you dont want the closed loop intake in the overflow section, you will have a large microbubble problem and will regret it....I dont have experience with those particular skimmers but have used other aqua-c skimmers in the past with success.... Do a little research on the scwd....I have heard nothing but bad things about them, even the 1" version You look like you are off to a great start! with some pretty nice equipment. any reason for using the 150w over the 250w lights? I'm using the Herbie method with my overflow. TJ Burton did the exact same thing with his closed loop and didn't have problems with it. You just keep the water level in the overflow box just under the backup drain. If it is too far of a drop, you are correct, there will be microbubbles. I will do some further research on the SCWD. The bad things I've heard about them is there is no way to do maintenance on them and they eventually get clogged and quit. You can open up the 1" version and clean it, so I heard it was a major improvement. On the lights, I am thinking about going 250W. That will be way better for clams especially. The El Cheapo Odyssea light is starting to sound like a better option. There's a big thread on the other site about how the quality has improved enought to make it worth while. Also you can buy one of those, swap out the ballast and bulbs, and it's still cheaper than the Current USA light. My Glass-Holes drill bit came in yesterday. I ordered it on Friday, that's pretty fast service! I should have some pics up this weekend of how the drilling goes. I'm practicing on a 10 gallon first. I'm going to spread the holes out a little more. The backup overflow will be about 2 inches from the top. Link to comment
Wawawang Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 I bought my swcd used and its been working great for a while. It may raddle at times but it is not as loud as my skimmer. Two 250 lights is overkill for such a shalow tank. Im sure you would have to purchase a chiller with 250's also. Link to comment
SLOreefer Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Oh ok, I have never used the herbie method, nor did I look at TJ burtons full build....hopefully it all works out so there isnt an issue....I guess you could always add an elbow to your emergency drain to decrease the amount of fall if needed. Link to comment
neanderthalman Posted September 30, 2008 Share Posted September 30, 2008 The downside to having the closed loop intake inside the overflow is that you now have to size the overflow box (linear length, not pipe diameter) to handle all of your flow, not just the sump flow. That makes for a larger overflow box. It would be nice to hide the intake, but it's not that big a deal, it's less obtrusive than loc-line, and you can put it anywhere sufficiently far from the surface that it won't pick up air. I too have heard bad things about the 1" SCWD, and that the original design has a tendency to get choked up. They can be cleaned with a vinegar soak, and I have also heard of various mods to upgrade the flow capabilities and opening it up for cleaning. If you've got the cash, why not get an OM squirt? I ordered a super squirt this afternoon, hence the four outputs in my tank. If you're only going to have two, you can get an OM squirt 2 way for $180 shipped. If you upgrade later, it can be converted to a 4-way so it retains it's value. The nice thing about the OM squirts over the SCWD's is that the OM squirt does not use the water pressure to move the mechanism. This increases the amount of head loss in SCWDs and reduces flow in the tank. It's not too bad, but it's something to consider. http://www.oceansmotions.com/store/product...f78cb0cffd38cd7 Edit - By the way, did you get the tank drilled yet? Link to comment
JustReef Posted October 3, 2008 Author Share Posted October 3, 2008 It's not drilled yet and I'm considering what you said about the close loop intake. A big overflow box is going to steal a lot of real estate. I tried to drill a 10 gallon tank last weekend and cracked it. It still has 3 more sides to try again, which I plan to do this weekend. If I can't drill it 2 holes successfully, I'll see about taking it to a glass shop. I figure that's cheaper than buying another 40BR if I crack it. It sounds like the 2 way squirt is basically an extra $100 over the scwd. That seems like small potatoes compared to the total budget for this project. Link to comment
SLOreefer Posted October 3, 2008 Share Posted October 3, 2008 Ive had the squirt before and it is awesome! It really made nice flow in my tank. A 40breeder is going to be easier to drill than a 10 due to the thickness of the glass. Id rec getting a scrap piece from the glass shop that is the same thickness and try that. make sure to keep the bit nice and cool, even light pressure, and dont drill too fast. It really is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. I really like this project and thing you will do a great job! Its nice to see tanks that are planned out well ahead of time! Link to comment
bdare Posted October 3, 2008 Share Posted October 3, 2008 +1 Don't be discouraged by cracking a 10 gallon. The glass is MUCH thinner and cracks A LOT easier. It's really a piece of cake to drill these holes. I did it on my 40B. One in the back and one on the bottom. P.S. My sister-in-law lives in Roseville. My mother and father in law are from Stockton and I'm a CSU, chico grad! Another thing you could do is remove the drawers all together. Just remove the drawer part and screw the front panels to the front of the tank. IMO you want as much room under the tank as you can get! I'd also look into Octopus skimmers. I have an external recirculating model and it's dead quiet. Ben Link to comment
neanderthalman Posted October 3, 2008 Share Posted October 3, 2008 I drilled two 10g's with a dremel, and now this 40B and 20H sump with holesaws. The 10g is really thin, I wouldn't want to use the holesaw on it. The dremel is easier on the thin glass, but would take way too long on something thicker like the 40B. Don't sweat it. Link to comment
nanoty Posted October 3, 2008 Share Posted October 3, 2008 I drilled the bottom of my 10g with a hole saw the other day, the hole isn't perfect but it isn't bad. I also drilled 2 holes in my 40b like Bdare and it was much easier. Link to comment
JustReef Posted October 6, 2008 Author Share Posted October 6, 2008 I tried drilling the 10 gallon again this weekend and drilled 2 holes, no cracking! My confidence level is much higher now. I should be able to get it drilled this week. I think I'm going to take the closed loop intake out of the overflow box. I think I would need a huge box to run 1300gph through it. bdare: I looked at the Octopus NW-110 and it's 22 inches high. Even if I pull the drawers out, I'm not sure I'll be able to get the collection cup off. I'll have to measure with the drawers pulled out. I haven't looked at the Octopus recirc models yet. I've been looking at the AquaC EV-120. It's only 18 inches high and requires less than an inch of clearance to remove the cup. That's a lot of cash though. Link to comment
xenon Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 I did a closed loop on my 90g and wished I would have used powerheads instead. The flow was always too direct. The noise from the CL pump was loud compared to powerheads. The heat it generated was another issue. I much prefer the wide flow pattern of Tunze powerheads and my corals seem to agree with me. If you wanna see a few pics of my CL setup let me know. Link to comment
JustReef Posted October 6, 2008 Author Share Posted October 6, 2008 I did a closed loop on my 90g and wished I would have used powerheads instead. The flow was always too direct. The noise from the CL pump was loud compared to powerheads. The heat it generated was another issue. I much prefer the wide flow pattern of Tunze powerheads and my corals seem to agree with me. If you wanna see a few pics of my CL setup let me know. I'm concerned about the flow as well. I'm hoping that putting the CL on a wavemaker will help. I'm also thinking about using eductors, but I have to do more research on that. I have a Koralia nano and love the flow it puts out. It's a very wide soft, yet powerful, flow. The powerheads just don't fit in with the kind of look I'm going for in this tank. Link to comment
JustReef Posted October 15, 2008 Author Share Posted October 15, 2008 So I started drilling the tank last night. After two hours I have 1 hole in the tank, lol. I think I'm going to try drilling a little faster tonight. At this rate it will take me until November just to drill it. Link to comment
JustReef Posted October 23, 2008 Author Share Posted October 23, 2008 I will be finishing up the drilling this weekend. Any idea how big of an overflow I need? I'm thinking 6x4 inches. Should I go with black acrylic? Link to comment
SLOreefer Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 i would def use black, there is an overflow calculator on reef central that you can use to determine what you need Link to comment
JustReef Posted November 27, 2008 Author Share Posted November 27, 2008 Tank drilling! Plumbers putty dam. Guide for my drill. Drilling sandwich. You can see the plumbers putty dam between the guide and the glass. This worked really well. When I got the hole started deep enough I just removed the guide and left the dam. Link to comment
JustReef Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 Update: Got all of my holes drilled, and the back painted. Finished my sump. Now I'm just plumbing and dealing with leaks. My overflow box is leaking and I had a leaky bulkhead, but I think I have that fixed now. I hoping to have water in it this weekend and some pix. Link to comment
Falcon_Punch Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 This sounds like it's going to be a great setup! Can't wait to see it when it's finished! Link to comment
plainrt Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Have any pics of the top? nice work Link to comment
JustReef Posted February 28, 2009 Author Share Posted February 28, 2009 Well, it's done. Actually I don't think it will ever be done, but it's good enough for now. Tank Empty after some testing. Homemade 20L sump. Plumbing Aquascape. First I tried the two island look and hated it. I like this much better. Aquascape with black sand. More pics to follow with my new Nova Extreme Pro. Edit: Also edited the first post with updated specs. Link to comment
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